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A Chechen soldier fighting in Ukraine appears to hit his own fellow fighter with backblast when trying to use a shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), according to a clip circulating online.
One Chechen fighter can be heard yelling over the sound of heavy gunfire before another soldier, holding an RPG, fires it. The camera then quickly cuts to the soldier behind the shoulder-fired missile system who is seemingly hit with backblast and crumples to the ground after the RPG is fired before crawling to the trench where his fellow soldiers were fighting.
Newsweek cannot independently verify when or where this footage was filmed, or that the fighters who appear in the clip are pro-Russian Chechen soldiers. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Pro-Russian Chechen fighters have been fighting on Moscow's behalf in Ukraine since the early days of the conflict. Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, is considered one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's staunchest allies and frequently speaks out in favor of the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.
Experts suggested that Chechen fighters acted as a cleansing force or military police, somewhat removed from the front lines, before Kadyrov said they would be deployed to sites such as the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut to replace withdrawing Wagner mercenary fighters.
Some Chechen fighters, or volunteers of Chechen origin, have also joined Ukraine's ranks against Russia's troops. Earlier this month, Ukraine's Defense Ministry posted footage of what it said showed pro-Kyiv Chechen troops ambushing a Russian truck in Ukraine.
Many Chechen volunteers headed to Ukraine's front lines with "long-standing grievances" against Russia and Kadyrov's brutal regime, Mikhail Alexseev, a political science professor at San Diego State University, previously told Newsweek. Chechnya was engulfed by war after the fall of the Soviet Union, attempting to break away with independence from Moscow before being brought back under Moscow's control.
Some pro-Ukrainian volunteers therefore "see the fight for Ukraine as contributing to their long-term goal of Chechen independence," Alexseev said.
Pro-Russian Chechen fighters are sometimes pejoratively referred to as the "TikTok army" for their tendency to post footage of themselves online.
Kadyrov has said that Chechen special forces have been fighting in and around Bakhmut alongside Russia's paratroopers. On July 21, Kadyrov said in a post to Telegram that Chechen Akhmat units were operating near Klishchiivka, not far from the decimated city of Bakhmut. Kadyrov had first claimed that Chechen fighters were deployed close to Klishchiivka on July 9, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said in an assessment on July 16.
"Kadyrov more likely deployed Chechen forces around Bakhmut for propaganda, however," the think tank said earlier this month.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more